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WATCHBLOG: Lawmaker proposes restricting drone use in PA

By Melissa Daniels | PA Independent

HARRISBURG – A Philadelphia state lawmaker wants to make sure that Pennsylvania citizens aren’t needlessly spied on by aerial drones.

U.S. MILITARY DRONES, like the one seen here in from a Marine Corps defense training, are used overseas and domestically, as new Federal Aviation Administration laws allow police nationwide to use drones. Critics of those laws, like the ACLU, say they lack privacy protections.

Cruz told his fellow lawmakers that the point of the bill is to protect against invasions of privacy. He also said his legislation would ensure drones would not be used in Pennsylvania “without reasonable cause given for their use and proper approval given from the court system.”

The authorization would be similar to the current rules law officers follow to intercept communication.

So far, the bill has four co-sponsors.

Cruz introduced the same bill last session. It was referred to the House Judiciary Committee, though it didn’t see a vote.

But the bill could have a different fate this year, as the national context of drone legislation in 2013 is much different. A growing number of states are looking to restrict domestic drone use in their airspace, or ban them altogether.

Such legislation is praised by privacy rights groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, which has filed a lawsuit against the federal government in regards to international drone use, specifically, the targeted drone killing of three U.S. citizens abroad as well as Freedom of Information Act lawsuits connected to the release of drone use records.

“Routine aerial surveillance would profoundly change the character of public life in America,” the ACLU said on its website. “Rules must be put in place to ensure that we can enjoy the benefits of this new technology without bringing us closer to a ‘surveillance society’ in which our every move is monitored, tracked, recorded, and scrutinized by the government.

Pennsylvania Independent is a public interest journalism project dedicated to promoting open, transparent, and accountable state government by reporting on the activities of agencies, bureaucracies, and politicians in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.